Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to forms generation for CRM and more particularly to mobile forms generation in a CRM system.
Description of the Related Art
The widespread enablement of mobile computing has revolutionized the way in which individuals are able to interact with enterprise computing systems even while remote or during travels. For traveling corporate representatives in particular, mobile computing enables the roving sales force to constantly interact with backend computing systems and to dynamically collect data irrespective of location. Mobile computing is particularly enabling in the collection of data pertinent to a meeting at a time most contemporaneous to the occurrence of the meeting without the need for any delays in returning to the home office. In doing so, customer response time and follow up are dramatically improved.
Principally, the tasks associated with follow up after a meeting has occurred in the field include form generation. A typical form to be generated after a meeting is a form driven follow up message to one or more participants to the meeting, or a quotation to be presented to one or more participants to the meeting, or a sales order for goods or services to be transmitted to one or more participants to the meeting. When managed by a CRM system, the process of generating such a form includes first the generation of data in the CRM system and the use of this data as input to a form template ultimately to result in a desired document such as a quote, message or order.
Generally, the remote collection of data for a CRM system on a mobile device for the purpose of form generation requires either the presence on the mobile device of a client application enabled to interact with the CRM system, or a Web browser through which a Web interface to the CRM system is presented. In either case, through the CRM system, data entry is effectuated. However, the typical interface to a CRM system whether through the Web or through a dedicated CRM client is highly structured and at times, complex. A high degree of structure and complexity in a user interface to a CRM client on a mobile device, though, does not lend itself well to the fast moving, free flowing nature of data collection after a meeting where only a few data elements are required to be recorded so as to generate some sort of form, such as a follow up message to a participant to the meeting, or perhaps an order for goods or services. Indeed, in such a situation, for many, the reversion to manual note taking with pad and paper is the consequence.